Fox host Pete Hegseth says Putin decided to invade Ukraine because America is “talking about genders and reparations”
Hegseth attacks the American military for being unprepared to “stare down a maniac” because it is “setting up processing centers for refugees”
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From the February 22, 2022, edition of Fox News' The Five
PETE HEGSETH (CO-HOST): When you look at NATO and those NATO countries, you can't gut your military to pay for your welfare state and open up your borders, and then believe you can muster the kind of collective will necessary to stare down a maniac who has ambitions potentially on that continent.
What are the -- what is the 82nd Airborne doing right now in Poland, as they prepare? They're setting up processing centers for refugees. That's what -- that's what our soldiers and border patrol agents do best these days with invasions: they help facilitate refugees.
I don't think that Vladimir Putin believes his adversaries are fundamentally serious right now. He doesn't believe the West is a serious civilization. We're running around talking about genders and reparations and all of this. He sees us divided, he sees us as self-loathing, he -- and as a result, he thinks this is his moment to make an aggressive move. Because we may talk about Article 5 and we should, but would the American people truly support sending our boys halfway across the world to fight against Vladimir Putin? I think the elites would want us to do so, but the population in America would probably say otherwise.